The Perfect Blend

Since the first moment I saw this book I knew I had to find a way to create a quilt that blended my love of quilting with my love of coffee. I'm more the strong pot o' black coffee type than the froo froo latte with extra sprinkles and whipped cream type, but the idea came across really strong in Kerrie Hay's book even though she deals mostly with embroidery blocks.

I took my time and collected fabrics for nearly two years. My friend Rita sent me half a dozen fat quarters once that were absolutely splendid.

Eventually I started making blocks. I wanted the quilt to have a hidden picture feel to it so planning the blocks took quite a while. The project got shelved a couple years back when I started getting excited about entering shows and contests. I hauled it back out about six months ago and finished up all the blocks. Once they were assembled I looked at it for nearly a week before figuring out (with one of my daughters' help) how to border it. As an aside, I will NEVER do this wonky braid border again. It is lovely, but that much ironing just about drove me nuts.

The backing was nearly a no-brainer for me so the sandwich went together quickly. It sat around for a few months waiting to get quilted though. Somehow it seemed an ideal choice to be the quilt that christened the new quilting table. Wow. Remarkably less arm stress on the quilting now that the machine fits flush to the table. Why didn't I do that years ago?

This week I'm showing off the perfect blend. I call it Java Jive. I love jazz and big band music, and the Puppini Sisters did an excellent cover of this tune in their debut album, Betcha Bottom Dollar. Mixing up the different colors of coffee, using tossed coffee mugs as the main quilting motif, and "hiding" the large steaming mug in the quilt blocks all remind me of the "throw it all in there" mix you get with good jazz music.